Abhimanyu Girotra News ! Abhimanyu Girotra

A reality show participant, an actor, an ex-Armyman, a social worker, sportspersons, and entrepreneurs: that's the class of 2009-11 for you at the IIMs. An eclectic mix of aspirants have qualified for India's premier B-schools this year, busting the stereotype that only people with great academic records crack the IIM entrance test.

Shubhajeet Mazumdar (27), an ex-Armyman, managed to get into IIM-B in his first attempt. He had joined the National Defence Academy after class XII, but could not continue in the Army due to medical reasons. He then decided to pursue management. ``The course will help me prepare to work with society,'' says Shubhajeet, who got calls from four IIMs.

Adamya Chandra (23) was a participant at a reality singing talent show. This mechanical engineer from Lucknow UP cracked CAT in his first attempt and has joined IIM-C. ``Music soothes me. If I need a break from a hectic study schedule, I switch to music. But pursuing MBA was my main goal and studying at IIM is the first step towards a successful career,'' he says.

His batchmate, Abhimanyu Girotra (26) from Delhi, is a talented actor who has done various serials and ads. A BTech grad from NIT-Kurukshetra, he played the boyfriend of Priyanka Mehra, better known as `Chhoti' in season 1 of `Hum Paanch', produced by soap queen Ekta Kapoor. In another serial on missing persons produced by Jackie Shroff, he played Salem, a real-life missing boy. Abhimanyu has also acted in serials like `Yug' and `Ghar ek Mandir'.

IIM-Calcutta has a mixed bag ranging from highly accomplished sportspersons to those involved in massive projects, such as modernizing the Bangladesh railway system, besides student entrepreneurs and those associated with NGOs. Ditto with IIM-Indore, which has students who have excelled in sports to those starting a school. IIM-Bangalore has maths and science Olympiad participants, national level players and armed forces, besides university toppers.

Many like Anshuman Atri, an information science engineer from Bangalore who joined IIM-Indore, have left behind promising careers. Atri joined SAP Labs India as a software developer in 2006. He has worked on mobile software platforms and developed a framework for Windows mobile.

Vikram Khaitan, 25, an economics grad from Gujarat worked with World Bank for a year at the Delhi office. ``The reason for not continuing with World Bank was that I would have had to do a PhD to survive in the place for long,'' he says. Khaitan has taken admission at IIM-C.

His classmate Shekhar Chaudhary, 28, worked in RBI for five years. He has taken study leave to join the course. from RBI. ``Studying management will help to gain more information and knowledge about the financial world,'' he said.

At least one student at IIM-Indore is keen to work for uplift of children. Aashish Mylapally, 23, founded Helping Hand Society, an NGO working for under-privileged kids, orphans and children of sex workers. A BTech in electronics & communication from GRIET, Hyderabad, his current objective is construction of a green concept school for 1,500 children. ``A partner foundation, Sphoorti, has three acres of land on which we would be building the school. We are in talks with prominent educationists for planning and development of the school. We are also talking to consultancies for financial modelling,'' he said.

There are others too who are very clear on what they want to do after IIM. Says Abhimanyu Girotra, who besides acting has worked for three-and-a-half years with IBM. ``I hope to leverage my experience and management education to give India an energy trading exchange  a real time market to match the energy demand and supply disparity,'' says this actor who is currently on the waiting list for Wharton Business School in USA.

As for acting, it's more of a creative vent. ``Even when I had to bunk classes for shooting, I would take my books along. I enjoyed every moment of it but when it came to choosing between education and acting, education was my priority,'' he said.